The One that Got Away

I came up with an awesome riff yesterday morning. It was so cool. I really, really liked it. Totally album worthy. I started to write a melody to it and I was drawn to a familiar set of notes and a cadence and phrasing that was not my own. It was then I realized that my awesome little riff was a little to close to a Radiohead song off 'The Bends' (forgive me, I can't remember the name).

Well, at least I realized it before I got too far along. Between Lennon/McCartney and Thom Yorke, I can't catch a break.

C'est La Vie...

The Blog that got Ignored

Gaito and Tra'y were in NYC this weekend for the wedding of our good friends Matt and Jenn (nee Hoffman) Scullion. Got to see the entire "Great NJ Friend Contingent". They are some of the best people in the world. Got to see my mom and Bruce as well, extra special treat! Very fun, very tired, no more real blog until tomorrow evening.

Music as a Commodity

I think music is the art most susceptible to becoming a commodity as opposed to a creation of truth or beauty. Why is this? What makes music so easily terrorized in this way? Is it the social aspect of music, the cliques that form around it? Have we been conditioned for so long to listen to and like what’s easily available to us? The fact that repetition creates pathways that make certain tones and combinations of tones more agreeable to our ears?

It is up to the listener to decide what is “good”. Sometimes this grows out of good ole grassroots word of mouth of an artist/performer who is just great. Mostly this is dictated by savvy marketing and a “my dish soap is better than your dish soap” mentality that leads to different wrappers being placed around a cookie cutter form.

Music should not be an opportunity to exploit a fad. Is it really possible that are our tastes are so homoginized that millions upon millions of the same record can successfully be sold time and time again? Or is this because of insecurities we feel? Not wanting to be left out of the next big thing.

In the west, we have successfully dropped our overall choice of note to 12. Standard music theory dictates that 8 of these “fit” together. Will the record industry’s demographic analysis determine that only 4 of these notes are liked by white males 18-34, further limiting the possibilities? Don’t get me wrong, a lot can be done with 4, 2 or even 1 note, but forgive me if I have my doubts that current pop musicians will be able to conjure a soulful response to the note limitation quota soon to be imposed upon the world.

There is more out there than you ever imagined. Notes you have never heard, sounds you have never imagined, extensions of the great people who create them. Will they toil in obscurity or be assimilated in the machine that they currently rail against? Or will they achieve the demi-success that I find so attractive. Big enough to sustain themselves, but small enough to remain under the industry radar.

Maybe music (and all art for that matter) is a commodity, a commodity that is often poorly and irresponsibly traded. Ultimately, it is up to the musician and the listener to decide how it will be.

Destroy the record companies.
Kill commercial radio.

Adolf, the Bee & me

I had a dream last night that Adolf Hitler became our newspaper delivery person. He was driving around in a big old van the ones with the submarine style back windows. He did some of his route on foot so he had a giant orange bag, the strap of which wrapped around him like a beauty pageant sash.

My neighbor and I were out shoveling snow early one morning and he came to deliver and my neighbor said to him, '"You should really shave that mustache."

Then everything morphed into a meadow where I was lying on my back staring up at these high contrast, brightly colored clouds and a bee flew in my ear and said, "That Hitler thing was just a dream."

I have often heard that people have epiphanies or realizations when they dream. If I have them, I never remember them. Just these stupid, surrealistic snippets that Fellini would reject.

Well, it's better than nothing, I guess.

Forks vs. Spoons

I tend to eat with a big spoon...I think that if I ate with a smaller fork, I might have a healthier lifestyle. At the mall they have those sporks. The mall is the only place worse than the movie theater. Maybe I'll stick with the spoons.

Beard of Bees Tracking & Writing

I spent this past Saturday and Sunday tracking the title cut for Beard of Bees, 'Beard of Bees (In)'. After struggling for 6 hours getting the guitar part the way I wanted on Saturday, Sunday went very smoothly and I was able to complete rough vocals, Rhodes, bass, and some spacy swirling change percussion. Total time for a fairly imperfect rough track: 12 hours. If this is any indication of how things are going to go the album should be done some time in 2006. I think I need to be less of a perfectionist or learn how to play guitar better...

Finished the lyrics for the hot pop single 'Art Bunny' on Saturday too! It's about a very cute bunny who becomes my personal assistant and helps me stalk Bjork.

Garden State

I saw Garden State on Friday! It is exactly the kind of movie I like. Full of odd humor, melancholy characters and great music which defines the scenes. As much as I liked the movie, I hate the movie theater. I haven't been to a movie in a long time. It was a very annoying experience filled with cell phone ringing, latecomers, and loud talkers. Very obnoxious...great movie though.

From the Pre-Blog Part 4

August 11, 2004
Progress on the web site is proceeding well. Progress on "Beard of Bees" is slow. About half the songs are written, but the other half are having a difficult birthing process. I foresee many late night, rewrites, broken strings and throwing of objects, heavy and not-so-heavy. And so it goes. (apologies to Kurt Vonnegut).

From the Pre-Blog Part 3: "I am glad I am not Richard Karn"

August 10, 2004
I know he's famous and all but I am still glad I am not Richard Karn. Home Improvement, hosting Family Feud. That would drive me nuts. Now Rick Wakeman, there's someone I could be. Giant sequined outfits, a huge bank of keyboards hiding God's less shining points of my creation, conservatory training and an ego the size of a small planet. That would be bad ass.

From the Pre-Blog Part 2

August 9, 2004
I think I will eat toast more .

From the Pre-Blog Part 1

August 8, 2004

I have decided that the cover art for "Beard of Bees" is going to be me in goggles and a motorcycle helmet, standing in front of a wall, flexing my muscles (horseshoe-style) on the front and on the back will be me in front the same wall, but now it has a head shaped hole in it and I am covered in sheetrock and dust, flexing my muscles (upside-down horseshoe-style). Oh yeah!

About "From the Pre-Blog"

I started jotting random thoughts before I had this blog/journal. What follows is some of the more interesting excerpts...in four parts.

Welcome to Beard of Bees

Hello all,
This blog is an extension of my web site http://www.mikegaito.net and will detail what's up with me on a semi-daily basis. Yawn!

About the title: I am currently writing and recording a cd which will be entitled "Beard of Bees". I am so clever...more later.

Gaito